Jay Seay Ritchie (November 20, 1936 – January 5, 2016) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

, who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...

and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

from to .

Early life

Ritchie attended Granite Quarry High School in

Granite Quarry, North Carolina Granite Quarry is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,930 at the 2010 census. History Granite Quarry was originally named Woodville when it was founded in the late 1800s. However, the first post office in t ...

where he starred in baseball and basketball. His combined pitching record his junior and senior years was 24–0 and upon graduation he was also the county's all-time basketball scoring leader.

Career

The lanky Ritchie stood tall and weighed . He was originally signed by the Red Sox as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1955. He was in his ninth season in Boston's farm system when he made his big league debut with the Red Sox on August 4, 1964, in a road game against the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...

. Entering the game in relief of

Bill Monbouquette William Charles Monbouquette (August 11, 1936 – January 25, 2015) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (1958–65), Detroit Tigers (1966 ...

, the first batter Ritchie faced was

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball ...

slugger

Harmon Killebrew Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr. (; June 29, 1936May 17, 2011), nicknamed "The Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He was a prolific power hitter who spent most of h ...

, who singled. In four innings pitched that game, Ritchie allowed two hits and three walks, but did not allow an earned run in the 12–4 loss. Ritchie’s rookie season overall was the best season of his career—in 21 games, he had a 1–1 record with a fine 2.74

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA) in 46 innings. The 1965 season was also a successful one for Ritchie, as he was 1–2 with a 3.17 ERA in 44 relief appearances, as was 1967, when he was 4–6 but again posted a 3.17 ERA in 52 relief appearances — which ranked 10th in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL). On January 11, 1966, Ritchie was sent to the Atlanta Braves to complete a trade announced on December 15, 1965, in which the Red Sox sent Lee Thomas, Arnold Earley, and a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

(Ritchie) to the Braves for Bob Sadowski and

Dan Osinski Daniel Osinski (November 17, 1933 – September 13, 2013), nicknamed "The Silencer", was an American Major League Baseball relief pitcher. The , right-hander was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before the 1952 season. ...

. Ritchie spent two seasons with the Braves, appearing in 22 games and posting a 4.08 ERA in 1966 and appearing in 52 games in 1967, posting a 3.17 ERA. In 1967, he tied for tenth in the league with Bob Miller in pitching appearances. Following the 1967 season, Ritchie was traded to the Reds with

Jim Beauchamp James Edward Beauchamp (/ˈbiː-tʃʌm/ (BE-chum), August 21, 1939 – December 25, 2007) was a Major League Baseball first baseman and outfielder who played from to for the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Colt .45s/Astros, Milwaukee/Atlanta ...

and

Mack Jones Mack may refer to: People *Mack (given name) *Mack (surname) * Reinhold Mack, German record producer and sound engineer, often credited as simply "Mack" * Richard Machowicz (1965–2017), host of ''FutureWeapons'' and ''Deadliest Warrior'', known ...

for

Deron Johnson Deron Roger Johnson (July 17, 1938 – April 23, 1992) was an American professional baseball infielder, outfielder, designated hitter, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, ...

. Ritchie played his final season in 1968, appearing in 28 games for the Reds, starting two of them. Overall, he posted a 4.61 ERA that year, which was nearly a point and a half higher than the league average. Overall in his

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

career, Ritchie posted an 8–13 record in 167 games. In 291 innings of work, he struck out 212 batters, walked 94 and had a 3.49 ERA. As a batter, he hit .200 in 35 at-bats, with the highlight of his hitting career being a triple he hit off a

Don Cardwell Donald Eugene Cardwell (December 7, 1935 – January 14, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed pitcher who played for five National League (NL) teams from 1957 to 1970. He was the first pitcher in major league history to ...

of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

on May 16, 1967. It was the only extra base hit of his career. He had a .940 career fielding percentage. In 2004, Ritchie was inducted into the Salisbury Rowan Sports Hall of Fame.

Later life and death

Ritchie lived in

Kannapolis, North Carolina Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. Th ...

and died on January 5, 2016, in

Rockwell, North Carolina Rockwell is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,108 at the 2010 census. History The George Matthias Bernhardt House, Grace Evangelical and Reformed Church, and Zion Lutheran Church are listed on the Nat ...

References

External links

Jay Ritchie
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League)
Jay Ritchie
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Jay 1936 births 2016 deaths Allentown Red Sox players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Atlanta Braves players Atlanta Braves scouts Baseball players from North Carolina Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Corning Red Sox players Indianapolis Indians players Lafayette Red Sox players Leones del Caracas players Leones del Escogido players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Navegantes del Magallanes players People from Salisbury, North Carolina People from Kannapolis, North Carolina Raleigh Capitals players Reading Red Sox players Richmond Braves players Seattle Rainiers players York White Roses players